There’s just one place to start out this morning and that’s with yesterday’s unimaginable 1-0 win over Barcelona in Lisbon.
A 74th minute aim from substitute Stina Blackstenius, arrange by fellow sub Beth Mead, was sufficient to win the Champions League and crown what is going to go down as an historic season for Arsenal Ladies. I’m not going to enter all of the nuts and bolts of the sport and the efficiency, I’ll depart that to those that do it much better than me, however to beat this Barcelona staff you’ve started working so laborious and have everybody play at one thing near their finest degree. That’s what we bought.
Enormous credit score to Renee Slegers and her workers, and as captain Kim Little stated afterwards, they executed the sport plan completely. This was no fluke, this was each single individual concerned with this staff giving their most. An incredible collective effort which was sufficient to beat most likely the most effective staff on the earth and to change into Champions of Europe.
I received’t lie, and I’m positive if you happen to watched it you’ll have felt the identical, the final a part of the sport felt like an eternity. I couldn’t assist consider how in 2006 we have been mainly that near doing it in Paris just for that recreation to slide away from us, however we have been defensively so sturdy, brilliantly organised, and when the 700000 minutes of added time have been up and the ref blew the whistle, I felt very emotional. Not simply because this was a large success for the membership, the supervisor, the gamers, and the followers, however there have been a few different points in play for me. Let me clarify.
Again in February, our pals and neighbours misplaced their daughter to most cancers. She was simply 19, mad about soccer and never simply watching both – she was a implausible participant too. Her sickness robbed her of that, however throughout that interval she had unimaginable assist from the likes of Louise Quinn, Katie McCabe, and others, and there have been journeys to see Arsenal Ladies that have been made particular with behind the scenes stuff. Her dad and mom and her brother have been in Lisbon yesterday and within the stands with the Arsenal followers. So, for Aidan, Emma and Con, I used to be so invested on this recreation turning out the best means.
Secure travels residence you guys, and that was one for Freya ❤️
The opposite one is a bit nearer to residence. Again in 2011 when Arseblog’s future was very a lot on a knife-edge for causes I’ve defined earlier than (OleOle!), I steered to Tim Stillman that we do a bit extra across the ladies’s staff. He was very a lot open to that and already any individual whose data and assist of the staff was mainly second to none. So, we arrange our devoted Arsenal Ladies part on Arseblog Information.
It took a while to construct an viewers. Initially, we’d get plenty of feedback like ‘Who cares about ladies’s soccer?’, and ones which have been way more pejorative and downright sexist. There was some fairly grim stuff, I’ve to inform you, most of which by no means will get seen or will get printed as a result of we now have methods of filtering that sort of crap out. Nonetheless, it took longer than it ought to have for some folks to grasp that if you happen to don’t like ladies’s soccer or tales about Arsenal Ladies, you don’t must click on on them or learn them.
Simply transfer on. Look ahead to the following story. It’s not necessary. Don’t waste everybody’s time by saying ‘Who cares?’. And right here we’re in 2025, and so many individuals care. There’s a huge viewers and big assist for Arsenal Ladies which is rising yr after yr. There’s a podcast which is admittedly common, a weekly e-newsletter too, and probably the most in-depth protection of the staff you’ll discover anyplace.
And that’s all the way down to Tim. He’s bought nice entry and nice relationships to offer the depth of protection that he does, however that’s as a result of he has put within the laborious yards and the laborious phrases for years and years and years. Lisbon away successful the Champions League is perhaps the end result of properly over a decade crappy practice journeys to take a seat in dodgy grounds to have folks say ‘Arse … Weblog?’ prefer it’s a grimy phrase when he checks into the press field.
Arsenal performed 15 video games to win the Champions League this season, from early qualifying rounds all the best way to the ultimate, and I believe I’m proper in saying Tim was in any respect of them, residence and away. So, whereas there was some success and trophies alongside the best way, that is one thing a bit additional, one thing particular. He has accomplished a lot to assist generate curiosity in Arsenal Ladies, to make it straightforward for folks to search out the data and protection they should drive that curiosity, and by advantage of writing and producing a lot top quality stuff that I’m so proud to offer a platform to on this web site.
Chapeau, as they are saying. To Tim, and Jamie and Jason who’re a part of the crew out in Lisbon this weekend too, and all of the contributors down the years. I hope you all had a fantastic night time, and let’s hope there’s tons extra to come back. I liked seeing Ian Wright on the market too, a beautiful supporter and advocate for the ladies’s recreation for thus a few years, and boy was he having fun with himself. Rightly so!
I really feel like I’ve barely scratched the floor of all of it. The celebrations have been superb, and the post-game interviews on TNT Sports activities have been nice. I significantly preferred Karen Carney simply throwing down her mic to go and seize folks to come back and discuss to them, and the way can I not point out Katie McCabe dropping a strong ‘f*cking’ on dwell TV? Shades of Freddie Ljungberg’s ‘It’s f*ckin glorious’, after which a couple of minutes later Leah Williamson joined the membership. Simply superb.
— Keithy (@metalgiroud.bsky.social) 2025-05-24T18:15:35.893Z
Anyway, when he will get again, I’m positive Tim may have a podcast with all of the precise evaluation of the sport itself reasonably than the event, however for now, there’s a bit video beneath of him and Jamie in Lisbon attempting to make some late-night sense of all of it.
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There’s, after all, the ultimate Premier League recreation of the season at present, and offering I can discover a stream, we’ll have all the same old protection, dwell weblog and many others, in a while. There doesn’t appear a lot level in previewing it, there’s nothing at stake, and hopefully it’s a pleasant kickabout on the South Coast and three factors for the Gunners to complete off the 2024-25 marketing campaign.
Proper, I’ll catch you later for that recreation, for now, get pleasure from your Sunday. Benefit from the highlights and the photographs and the movies, and luxuriate in that Arsenal Ladies are Champions of Europe.
❤️
